Memories Are Made of This (32 page)

Sam jerked his head sharply. ‘Let me past! I'm going to get the bastard.'

George looked at Jeanette. ‘You look after your sister. Call the doctor. I'm going with Sam.'

Jeanette took his place at Hester's side, put her arm around her waist and ushered her into the sitting room and over to the fire. She helped her off with her outdoor clothes and eased her into a comfy chair. ‘You stay there and don't move. I'm going to fill a hot-water bottle and make you a nice cup of cocoa. Then you're for bed. After that I'll go out to the phone box and call the doctor.'

‘No!' cried Hester in fright. ‘I . . . I've already seen a doctor. I saw one when I stayed with Myra. I'll be OK. I'm just feeling bruised and battered and terribly shaken up. I wasn't going to tell any of you because I didn't want to upset you.' She kicked off her shoes and rested her head against the back of the chair. Sobs still shook her body. She didn't want to see a doctor. He'd want to give her a thorough check-up and would discover she had been raped. She could not cope with that right now. She just wanted to be left alone and for her menfolk to deal with Cedric.

‘What's going on here? What was all the commotion about before?' Ethel's voice disturbed the peace. ‘Where's George and Sam gone?'

Hester thought she was the last person she wanted to talk to and did not even bother opening her eyes. It was Jeanette who answered their great-aunt. ‘Hester was assaulted and Dad and Sam have gone to get the sod who did it,' she said.

‘What? When was this?' asked Ethel.

‘While she was away,' replied Jeanette. ‘Now you just be nice to her, Aunt Ethel, and don't be bothering her with questions.'

‘It seems a rum do to me,' said Ethel. ‘That's what happens with giving girls too much freedom.'

‘Oh shut up!' muttered Hester. ‘You don't know what you're talking about. Now leave me alone. I need to rest.'

‘Don't you speak to me like that,' said Ethel.

‘Aunt Ethel, you heard her, leave her alone,' said Jeanette firmly, and seizing the old woman by the waist, she found the strength to propel her out of the room. She closed the door on her and turned back to Hester. ‘That woman!' was all she said, picking up the hot-water bottle and handing it to her half-sister. ‘I'll just get your cocoa and then I've got some good news for you.'

Hester opened her eyes and stared at Jeanette's retreating back. What good news could this be?

A short while later Hester opened the drawer in her bedroom and removed the envelope that Jeanette had placed there. For a moment she stared down at the bold handwriting depicting her name and address on the envelope postmarked Germany, and then she slit the envelope open with a finger.

Hello, Hester,

Sorry I haven't been in touch sooner but life's been hectic with too much to do, but you've been in my mind constantly, with me wishing I was with you instead of here finishing things up. By the time you receive this letter I should be on my way back to England. I've my fingers crossed I'll be able to see you before Christmas. I'm hoping Wendy and Charley will be able to put me up in their flat for a couple of nights. Will be in touch when I get to Liverpool.

Love Ally.

She had thought she had finished with weeping for that evening, but now the tears trickled down her cheeks. She was damaged goods and she could not pretend differently. If she agreed to meet Ally, how could she smile into his face and behave as if everything was hunky-dory? What if she was already pregnant? The thought terrified her. At the moment she could not imagine herself ever being able to bring herself to tell him about what had happened. He knew that she had dated Cedric several times and it was possible he might, just might, believe that she had not finished with him after all. A deep sigh passed through her body and she sank onto the bed. At that moment she could not imagine herself ever being happy again.

It was gone midnight when Sam and George returned. Jeanette had not gone to bed but was curled up in a chair in front of the fire. As soon as she heard the key in the door, she stood up and hurried out into the lobby. ‘Well?' she asked.

Neither answered her, but removed their coats and hung them up. She backed into the living room and went and put the kettle on before returning to the sitting room. They both stood in front of the fire, holding their hands out to the glowing embers.

‘He's done a runner,' said Sam, without turning round.

‘The bloody swine! He knew he'd gone too far,' muttered George. ‘We'll get him, though. Sooner or later, he'll be found. It's not only us that want to speak to him. He's suspected of taking bribes, fraud and arson. We'll get the bugger.' He stared at Jeanette. ‘Did you get the doctor?'

‘No. Hester said that she'd seen a doctor while she was staying with Myra in Whalley. She told me that she just feels bruised and battered and that she hadn't been going to tell us about what had happened because she didn't want to upset us.'

‘I'm glad she came to her senses and did tell us,' said George. ‘He has to be caught and punished.'

Jeanette agreed, and having told them Hester was tucked up in bed, she went and made tea, hoping the police would catch Cedric soon, yet fully aware that so far they had failed to find Billy.

‘Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man's hat,' sang Jeanette, applying glue to
a paper chain.

‘Do you always have to be singing?' grumbled Ethel. ‘I don't know why you're putting up decorations. There's no children in this house to make it worth the bother.'

‘Don't be a misery, Aunt Ethel. Christmas isn't just for children, you know,' said Jeanette, determined to put a bright face on things. The rest of her family seemed to be able to think of nothing else but getting Cedric behind bars. Not that she blamed them. Although Hester had said no more about what form his assault had taken at the conference, she looked tense and wan. It was obvious the swine had hurt her in a way that had deeply shocked her sister. She sighed, hoping that Hester would recover soon. At least Ally should be able to help her do so – if she allowed him to.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Ethel snapping, ‘Have you done anything more about finding Grace?'

Jeanette reached for a strip of red paper and wielded the paste brush. ‘I don't know if I should tell you what I've found out, seeing as how you're keeping quiet about supposedly having been married.'

‘So you have found out something then,' said Ethel, smiling.

Jeanette hesitated and then gave in. ‘We know that someone looking like Mam was dug out of a bombed building. She could have been taken to Fazakerley hospital because the Southern hospital was taken over by the Royal Navy at the beginning of the war.'

Ethel made a sound in her throat, but Jeanette did not get to hear what she was about to say because there was the sound of a key in the lock and a draught of freezing air puffed round her ankles. The door opened and her father appeared. The shoulders of his navy-blue overcoat were dusted with snow, which started to melt as he stood there. ‘Before you start thinking we're going to have a white Christmas, it's only a sprinkling, but it's gone cold. It wouldn't surprise me if there's a frost in the morning.' He placed his helmet on the sideboard.

‘Don't put your helmet there,' said Ethel, shuffling over and removing it.

Jeanette smiled at him, thinking he seemed to have aged in the last few days. ‘Come over to the fire, Dad, and get a warm. You look done in.'

He removed his overcoat and placed it over the back of a chair. ‘I've had news about that swine Cedric. Our Sam got in touch with me and he and Hester have been given permission to go and speak to Cedric's inspector in Bootle.'

‘What did Sam tell you?' Jeanette hastened to put the paste brush away.

George stood in front of the fire, warming his hands. ‘A couple of timber yards were set alight within a short distance of each other. One was completely destroyed and the other one would have been, too, if a passer-by hadn't seen the flames and alerted the fire bobbies. They rescued a youth but also found a dead body. It's been identified as Cedric's.'

‘Bloody hell!' Jeanette was shocked and sank into a chair. ‘I wonder how Hester's feeling right now?'

At that moment Sam and Hester were gazing down at the charred timbers that still smouldered beneath a starry sky. ‘What a bloody fool!' she whispered. ‘He could have had such a good, worthwhile life if he hadn't given in to temptation.'

‘You're too forgiving,' said Sam. ‘He was bloody wicked!'

‘Oh, I haven't forgiven him for what he did to me,' said Hester, her expression hardening. ‘Don't ever think that. I bet Billy's mother will never forgive him either.'

‘He was calling Cedric everything evil under the sun,' said Sam grimly. ‘He's been carted off to hospital; his hands and face are in a bad way. Anyway, that priest our Jeanette knows has been sent for to accompany his mother to Stanley hospital. It'll be prison for Billy when he recovers. He's still wanted for the attack on that doorman. Cedric would have known that because his photograph has been up in every station on Merseyside. Just like him, he deserves what he got. Others could have been killed in those fires and they weren't the only cases of arson, as we know.' Sam tilted back his trilby, gazed up at the sky and changed the subject, not wanting to upset his sister further by going on about it. ‘I hope the weather stays dry. Dorothy was planning on doing some filming tomorrow.'

Hester was glad to talk of something else. She rubbed her eyes, which were watering due to the acrid smoke, and said, ‘So you've seen her recently?'

‘On Saturday. I've asked her to marry me.'

‘Oh!' Hester could not have been more surprised. ‘So you've made up your quarrel then?'

‘Sort of. She said she'll think about it and if she says yes, there'll be certain conditions, including a year's engagement.' He said gloomily, ‘At one time a woman would have been thrilled to have a proposal and couldn't wait to get married.'

Hester managed a laugh. ‘Times they are a-changing, brother. Although I'm sure there are still plenty of women around who would jump at the opportunity to accept a proposal from you. But Dorothy obviously enjoys what she does and has no intention of you putting a stop to it. You've already tried by speaking against it when you should have encouraged her.'

‘I wouldn't have been honest if I'd done that,' said Sam. ‘I want children and a home of my own and someone to look after me and them.'

All men want to be put first,
thought Hester, but she understood his dilemma. ‘Did you think of mentioning the word “love”
to her? Not that a man always means it when he says it,' she muttered. Was Ally any different? She hoped so, even if there was no future for them together.

Suddenly she heard the click of fingers in front of her face.

‘You seem to have gone off in a trance,' said Sam. ‘Of course I mentioned the word “love”. I wouldn't have asked her to marry me if I didn't love her. I'd have found someone else who was more willing to fall in with my wishes.'

Hester shrugged. ‘OK, I believe you.'

Sam squeezed her shoulder affectionately. ‘Buck up, our kid! This time next year hopefully everything will have worked itself out.'

But she could not bring herself to smile. ‘I think I'll go along to the hospital and have a word with the priest. Our Jeanette will be interested in what he has to say about Billy and his mother.'

Sam nodded and went off to talk to the inspector.

‘Constable Walker?'

Hester rose from the chair outside the room where Billy was lying moaning in pain. His burns were swathed in ointment and gauze and he had just received an injection of morphine.

‘Father Callaghan?'

‘That's right! You're Jeanette's sister?'

‘Yes, I'm Hester.' They shook hands.

‘This is a bad do,' he said. ‘I had hoped that Borstal might have taught him a lesson, but then he attacked Jeanette, who was lucky to get away relatively unharmed, unlike the doorman. Billy's fortunate that he did not die. Now this latest evil . . .'

‘He's paying heavily for it,' said Hester.

‘Yes, he'll have weeks of dreadful pain and then court and prison.' Father Callaghan sighed heavily.

‘I feel sorry for his mother. If only she had informed us where he was hiding this wouldn't have happened.'

‘He would never have forgiven her,' said Father Callaghan sadly. ‘It's not easy being a mother.' He paused. ‘Talking of mothers, if Jeanette would like to speak to a nurse who thinks she saw her mother the day she was dragged from the ruins, then it's possible she'll be at a Christmas concert we're giving at the church hall.'

‘What?' Hester could scarcely believe it.

‘A woman came to see me. Her brother was in the auxiliary fire service. She would say no more than that she would try to be at the concert if Jeanette wished to speak to her.'

‘What day is the concert?' asked Hester, thinking this news should delight Jeanette.

Jeanette heard the front door open, yawned and turned over in bed. She stared at the alarm clock. It was seven in the morning and her eighteenth birthday. She could hear voices below and hoped that meant someone was going to bring her breakfast in bed. She still didn't know for sure if David would be able to meet her today. She waited for ten minutes and when there was still no sound of footsteps on the stairs, decided she had better get up if she was going to be in work on time.

The lino was cold beneath her feet and she dressed in haste and scuttled to the bathroom. Ten minutes later, she went downstairs and entered the kitchen where she found Hester and Sam eating bacon and eggs in silence.